FARM MANAGEMENT IN LENAWEE COUNTY, MICH. 25 
This analysis suggests a very profitable line of improvement for 
farms of Lenawee County on which dairying is carried on to a greater 
or less extent. With one-fourth of the dairy farms in this area 
reporting returns of less than $50 per cow, the importance of keeping 
individual records for each cow and of eliminating the unprofitable 
becomes evident. It further suggest the possibilities for increasing 
the income by breeding up and systematically improving the entire 
dairy herd. The production per cow is one of the very essential 
factors in making dairying profitable. 
CROPPING SYSTEMS. 
Another factor of profitable farm management is the choice of a 
cropping system and the proper distribution of the crop area among 
the different crops. As previously stated, and as shown in Table III, 
on 300 owner and 153 tenant farms, corn occupies an average of 
29.5 per cent of the total crop area of each.farm; oats 17.5 per cent; 
wheat 14.9 per cent; barley 2 per cent; and hay 31.3 per cent. The 
tabulation of the data gathered on 300 owner-farms shows that in 
general on the more profitable of these farms corn occupies from 
30 to 50 per cent of the total crop area, or an average of about 40 
per cent; oats 1 to 20, or an average of about 10 per cent; wheat 
from 10 to 30, or an average of about 20 per cent; barley, roughly, 
from 1 to 10 per cent, and hay from 20 to 30 per cent. These results 
are significant. Consider, in the first place, their bearing on the 
corn crop. 
Since 1880 the corn crop in Lenawee County has more than doubled 
in acreage. In spite of this and in spite of the fact that it is still in- 
creasing in acreage, the indications are that corn on the average 
farm has not yet reached the acreage it might well occupy. There 
is every indication that on the average farm the acreage of corn 
should be increased until this crop occupies anywhere from 30 to 
50 per cent of the total crop area, according to the needs of the farm 
for feed, and distance necessary to haul in marketing the surplus 
of the crop. It isa significant fact in this connection that each 
year from 75 to 100 cars of corn are distributed to the farms of Len- 
_~awee County from Adrian alone. A material increase in the acreage 
of corn on the average farm seems indicated as one step toward plac- 
ing these farms on a more profitable basis. 
A further comparison of the figures presented shows that the total 
crop acreage devoted to oats (17.5 per cent) puts this crop well to- 
ward the upper limit of the acreage which it should occupy. As a 
source of cash income, the oat crop is relatively unimportant, but 
in this section oats are so valuable as a farm feed that it is still very 
important that a good acreage be devoted to this crop. The oat 
crop in many instances also 1 is used as a means of getting a stand of 
clover, 
